1. Their faith; they continued steadfast in their belief of the Gospel.
2. Their charity; they loved one another, and lived in unity and harmony.
3. They were affectionately attached to the apostle; they had good remembrance of him, and desired earnestly to see him.
Verse 7
Therefore - we were comforted - My afflictions and persecutions seemed trifles when I heard of your perseverance in the faith.
Verse 8
For now we live - Your steadfastness in the faith gives me new life and comfort; I now feel that I live to some purpose, as my labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Verse 9
What thanks can we render to God - The high satisfaction and uncommon joy which the apostle felt are strongly depicted in the language he uses. How near his heart did the success of his ministry lie! It was not enough for him that he preached so often, labored so hard, suffered so much; what were all these if souls were not converted? And what were all conversions, if those who embraced the Gospel did not walk steadily in the way to heaven, and persevere?
Verse 10
Night and day praying exceedingly - Supplicating God at all times; mingling this with all my prayers; ὑπερεκπερισσου δεομενοι, abounding and superabounding in my entreaties to God to permit me to revisit you. How strong was his affection for this Church!
Might perfect that which is lacking - That I might have the opportunity of giving you the fullest instructions in the doctrine of Christ, that ye might have every thing in the most ample detail; so that the great outlines of truth which you already know may be filled up, that ye may be perfectly fitted to every good word and work.
Verse 11
Now God himself and our Father - That is: God who is our Father, who has adopted us into the heavenly family, and called us his sons and daughters.
Direct our way - As he was employed in God's work he dared not consult his own inclinations, he looked for continual directions from God, where, when, and how to do his Master's work.
Verse 12
Make you to increase and abound in love - They had already love to each other, so as to unite them in one Christian body; and he prays that they may have an increase and an abundance of it; that they might feel the same love to each other which he felt for them all.
Verse 13
To the end he may establish your hearts - Without love to God and man, there can be no establishment in the religion of Christ. It is love that produces both solidity and continuance. And, as love is the fulfilling of the law, he who is filled with love is unblamable in holiness: for he who has the love of God in him is a partaker of the Divine nature, for God is love.
At the coming of our Lord - God is coming to judge the world; every hour that passes on in the general lapse of time is advancing his approach; whatsoever he does is in reference to this great event: and whatsoever we do should be in reference to the same. But who in that great day shall give up his accounts with joy? That person only whose heart is established in holiness before God; i.e., so as to bear the eye and strict scrutiny of his Judge. Reader, lay this to heart, for thou knowest not what a moment may bring forth. When thy soul departs from thy body it will be the coming of the Lord to thee.
Introduction
The apostle exhorts them to attend to the directions which he had already given them, that they might know how to walk and please God, [1Thes 4:1], [1Thes 4:2]. Gives them exhortations concerning continence, chastity, and matrimonial fidelity, [1Thes 4:3-8]. Speaks concerning their love to each other, and love to the Churches of Christ; and exhorts them to continue and increase in it, [1Thes 4:9], [1Thes 4:10]. Counsels them to observe an inoffensive conduct, to mind their own affairs, to do their own business, and to live honestly, [1Thes 4:11], [1Thes 4:12]. Not to sorrow for the dead, as persons who have no hope of a resurrection; because to Christians the resurrection of Christ is a proof of the resurrection of his followers, [1Thes 4:13], [1Thes 4:14]. Gives a short but awful description of the appearing of Christ to judge the world, [1Thes 4:15].
Verse 1
We beseech you, brethren, and exhort - We give you proper instructions in heavenly things, and request you to attend to our advice. The apostle used the most pressing entreaties; for he had a strong and affectionate desire that this Church should excel in all righteousness and true holiness.
Please God more and more - God sets no bounds to the communications of his grace and Spirit to them that are faithful. And as there are no bounds to the graces, so there should be none to the exercise of those graces. No man can ever feel that he loves God too much, or that he loves man too much for God's sake.
Verse 2
Ye know what commandments we gave you - This refers to his instructions while he was among them; and to instructions on particular subjects, which he does not recapitulate, but only hints at.
Verse 3
This is the will of God, even your sanctification - God has called you to holiness; he requires that you should be holy; for without holiness none can see the Lord. This is the general calling, but in it many particulars are included. Some of these he proceeds to mention; and it is very likely that these had been points on which he gave them particular instructions while among them.
That ye should abstain from fornication - The word πορνεια, as we have seen in other places, includes all sorts of uncleanness; and it was probably this consideration that induced several MSS., some versions and fathers, to add here πασης, all. Directions of this kind were peculiarly necessary among the Greeks, and indeed heathens in general, who were strongly addicted to such vices.
Verse 4
How to possess his vessel - Let every man use his wife for the purpose alone for which God created her, and instituted marriage. The word σκευοςanswers to the Hebrew כלי keli, which, though it signifies vessel in general, has several other meanings. That the rabbins frequently express wife by it, Schoettgen largely proves; and to me it appears very probable that the apostle uses it in that sense here. St. Peter calls the wife the weaker Vessel, [1Pet 3:7]. Others think that the body is meant, which is the vessel in which the soul dwells. In this sense St. Paul uses it, [2Cor 4:7] : We have this treasure in earthen Vessels; and in this sense it is used by both Greek and Roman authors. There is a third sense which interpreters have put on the word, which I forbear to name. The general sense is plain; purity and continency are most obviously intended, whether the word be understood as referring to the wife or the husband, as the following verse sufficiently proves.
Verse 5
Not in the lust of concupiscence - Having no rational object, aim, nor end. Some say, "not like beasts;" but this does not apply as they who use it wish, for the males and females of the brute creation are regular and consistent in their intercourse, and scarcely ever exceed such bounds as reason itself would prescribe to those most capable of observing and obeying its dictates.
The Gentiles which know not God - These are the beasts; their own brutes are rational creatures when compared with them. Enough has been said on this subject on Romans 1, and 2: They who wish to see more may consult Juvenal, and particularly his 6th and 9th Satires; and indeed all the writers on Greek and Roman morals.
Verse 6
That no man go beyond and defraud his brother - That no man should by any means endeavor to corrupt the wife of another, or to alienate her affections or fidelity from her husband; this I believe to be the apostle's meaning, though some understand it of covetousness, overreaching, tricking, cheating, and cozenage in general.
The Lord is the avenger of all such - He takes up the cause of the injured husband wherever the case has not been detected by man, and all such vices he will signally punish. Every species of uncleanness was practised among the heathens, nor were they reputed as vices. Their gods, their emperors, their philosophers, and their great men in general, gave them examples of every species of impurity; and they had no system of ethics which forbade these abominations. The Christian religion not only discountenances these things, but forbids them on the most awful penalties; therefore wherever Christianity prevails, these vices, if practised at all, are obliged to seek the deepest gloom of midnight to cover them from the eyes of men. On this account they are comparatively rare, even among the mere professors of Christianity; they exist, but do not flourish.
Verse 7
God hath not called us unto uncleanness - He is the creator of male and female, and the institutor of marriage, and he has called men and women to this state; but the end of this and all the other callings of God to man is holiness, not uncleanness. And they who use the marriage state as he directs, will find it conducive to their holiness and perfection.
Verse 8
He therefore that despiseth - He who will not receive these teachings, and is led either to undervalue or despise them, despises not us but God, from whom we have received our commission, and by whose Spirit we give these directions. See Clarke's note on [1Thes 4:15].
Hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit - Instead of εις ἡμας, unto Us, εις ὑμας, unto You, is the reading of BDEFG, a great many others, the Syriac, all the Arabic, Armenian, later Syriac in the margin, some of the Itala, Clement, Didymus, and Ambrosiaster; this seems to be the better reading. God has taught us that we may teach you; and he has also given you his Holy Spirit that ye might understand and be enabled to practice these things. It is one thing to receive a revelation from the Spirit of God; it is another thing to receive that Spirit to enable a man to live according to that revelation. In the first sense the apostles alone received this Holy Spirit; in the latter sense all true Christians, as well as the Thessalonians, receive it. I think ὑμας, you, is the true reading, and that it is confirmed by the following verse: For ye yourselves are Taught of God to love one another. Griesbach has inserted it in the margin, but has not admitted it into the text, because it has not what he deemed full support from those MSS. which are of the Alexandrian recension; but he thought its genuineness very probable.
Verse 9
Touching brotherly love - They were remarkable for this; and though the apostle appears to have had this as a topic on which he intended to write to them, yet, from the account which he received of their prosperous state by Timothy, he finds that it is unnecessary to spend any time in inculcating a doctrine which they fully understood and practised. See [1Thes 3:6].